Cardano’s price remained under pressure on Monday despite the active van Rossem hard fork of the network, leaving ADA traders focused on whether the token could break through its next resistance zone.
Summary
- Cardano remains close to $0.16 as a result of weak limits following the hard fork of van Rossem.
- ADA should retest $0.17 and $0.19 before the broader decline shows clear signs of a reversal.
- Positive funding provides support, but the sub-one-long-short ratio shows traders remain cautious about the recovery.
ADA was trading near $0.162 at the time of writing, down about 2% over 24 hours. The token has remained very low over the past month after a long decline from levels near $0.90 to $1.00. Its market capitalization is close to $6.06 billion, and the daily trading volume is around $240 million.
The latest price action comes shortly after Cardano moved to Protocol Version 11 using the van Rossem hard fork. The development of the network improved parts of the Plutus smart contract framework and prepared Cardano for future scaling work, but it has not yet produced a sustained ADA price rally.
Cardano price is struggling to hold above $0.16
The daily chart of ADA/USDT is always in a broad beach structure. Cardano has fallen significantly from the 2025 highs and recently settled in a narrow range around $0.16. Recent consolidation has eased the decline, but buyers haven’t found a clear sequence of higher highs and higher lows.
ADA is also trading below the intermediate Bollinger Band near $0.1688. The upper band sits around $0.1887, while the lower band is near $0.1489. This puts the price in the lower part of its current volatility range. A sustained move above $0.17 could improve the short-term setup, while a renewed decline could bring the $0.15 area back to its focus.
The Relative Strength Index stood at 45.62, slightly below its moving average of 47.10. The reading shows that momentum has returned from oversold conditions but remains below the neutral 50 mark. So consumers still don’t get a firm control over the daily trends.
This weak structure follows months of pressure on the ADA. Cardano fell below $0.20 in June as the broader market decline continued. Previous technical analysis also identified signs of weak momentum as ADA struggled to find long-term support.
Van Rossem’s hard fork failed to start a quick ADA rally
Cardano opened the van Rossem hard fork on July 18, moving the mainnet to Protocol Version 11. The upgrade was the first network hard fork to be approved and fully verified by its onchain governance system.
The upgrade adds improvements to Plutus and changes to the cost model used for smart contract execution. It also prepares the technical basis for the planned Dijkstra era and Ouroboros Leios, aimed at increasing the transaction volume of Cardano. As crypto.news reported, the development went live after passing through Cardano’s administrative process and earlier stages of the testnet.
However, ADA has so far shown little sustained response to the network event. The token remains close to the price point it was at before it became active. That price behavior suggests that traders are gauging broader market conditions and technical resistance in line with protocol development.
A hard fork can improve the underlying technology of the network without automatically driving the immediate need for the ADA. By setting the price, traders are now looking at whether the activity following the improvement can support strong buying pressure in the long term.
Mixed derivatives data keeps traders on their toes
Derivatives indicators reflect a diversified market. ADA’s funding ratio has recently turned positive, with a rate of about 0.0061%. Positive coverage usually means that traders who hold long positions pay off those who hold shorts, indicating that the position has shifted somewhat to the bullish side.
However, the long-to-short ADA ratio remained close to 0.90. A reading below one means that short positions continue to exceed long positions below that level. So these two indicators point in different directions, with increasing funding but continued caution among derivatives traders.
A mixed stance follows a short heavy descent before a hard fork. ADA traded near $0.1628 before the upgrade as traders increased bearish positions even as large holders accumulated the tokens. Liquidity was concentrated around $0.16 and $0.17, making those levels important for the next move.
The $0.16 area continued to act as a support area immediately after the fork. A loss of that level could expose ADA to the lower Bollinger Band near $0.149. Holding it will give buyers another opportunity to test immediate resistance above the current range.
ADA needs to reclaim $0.17 to target $0.19
The first technical level of the Cardano bulls is the area of $0.168 to $0.17, which is closely aligned with the Bollinger Band in the middle of the previous liquidity area. A daily move above that range will return ADA to the upper half of its most recent trading channel.
Otherwise, the $0.188 to $0.19 area represents the next major resistance area. The upper Bollinger Band sits near this level, making a break above $0.19 a strong signal that the short-term structure is changing. The RSI would also need to rise above 50 to indicate strong momentum for buyers.
Until those conditions develop, ADA remains in a consolidation phase within a very large downtrend. The development of van Rossem provides a new catalyst for the network, while the development of Leios gives Cardano another technological milestone to watch. However, the price confirmation still depends on the buyers who are pursuing the nearest opposition.
